Gila Almagor

• Name — Gila Almagor • Native Name — גילה אלמגור • Born — 22 July 1939 • Birthplace — Petah Tikva, Mandatory Palestine • Occupation — * Actress • novelist • Children — 2

sectionGila Alexandrowitz (Almagor) was born in Petah Tikva to Jewish emigrant parents from Europe. Her father Max Alexandrowitz was born in Germany to Polish-Jewish parents. was killed by an Arab sniper while working as a policeman in Haifa four months before she was born. Her mother Chaya was from a Polish Orthodox Jewish family. Almagor grew up caring for her mother, who was slowly losing her sanity after realising that all her family in Europe had been murdered in the Holocaust. When her mother was institutionalized in 1954, Almagor was sent to Hadassim youth village. • Illustration — Gila Almagor, 1964 • Illustration — Almagor in The House on Chelouche Street, 1973 Two years later, she moved to Tel Aviv, rented a room near Habima Theatre, and applied to acting school. Although she was underage, she was accepted. • Illustration — Gila Almagor, 1967 At the age of 17, Almagor debuted in Habima's production of The Skin of Our Teeth. Her autobiographical books Summer of Aviya and Under the Domim Tree were both made into films, with Almagor playing her own mother. She was married to Yaakov Agmon, former director of the Habima Theatre, until his death in 2020. They have two children.

Almagor founded the Gila Almagor Wish Fund, a charity for sick children, and co-founded AMI – the Israeli Artist Association. She currently serves as chair of cultural activities in the City Council of Tel Aviv and many other boards to promote the arts for children and in efforts to make international exchange between the Israeli performing arts world and abroad.

• El Dorado (1963), as Margo • Sallah Shabati (1964), as Batsheva Ha'Sosialit (social worker) • Trunk to Cairo (1965), as Yasmin • The House on Chelouche Street (1973), as Clara • The Rose Garden (1989), as Ruth • Life According to Agfa (1993), as Daliah • Munich (2005), as Avner's Mother